This particular Spicebush appeared to be younger than the one I saw last week who had the tattered wings.  It was really enjoying getting nectar from the Penta.

Spicebush Feeding On Penta

The shot below was done using a different technique than I normally use, but I like the result.  I like how I was able to blur the foreground Penta and focus on the Butterfly and Penta towards the back.

Spicebush Feeding On Multiple Pentas

For some reason, this large Spicebush Caterpillar was feeding on the Spicebush in the middle of the afternoon.  It was really chewing on the leaves.  Once the female Spicebush Butterfly came around, it quickly crawled back inside the protection of a leaf.

On another but similar note, I have yet to find any Spicebush Chrysalises, although we had several large Caterpillars a couple of weeks ago.

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar Feeding

When she finally quit flying around and “pretending” she was laying eggs, she stopped to rest on the Spicebush plant.  It was then that I saw she was pretty old, based on how faded her wings were, and the missing parts of her wing.

Old Female Spicebush Swallowtail Resting

These guys have not been easy for me to photograph.  They tend to come out from under the Spicebush leaves during the early evening hours, and I haven’t been getting home in time for decent light.

Today was a different day.  Actually Leecy called me while I was still at work and said if I can get home at a decent hour, there would be some opportunities to take pictures of the Caterpillars and how much they’ve grown.

Below is a fairly decent sized Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar extending its “Osmeterium” (those yellow horns).  It apparently thought Leecy’s thumb was getting a little too close.

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar Extending Osmeterium

Here’s another Caterpillar about the same size as the one above.

Medium Sized Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar

The next couple of pictures are some of the larger Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillars.  I’m not sure these are my favorite Butterfly Caterpillars, but they certainly rank towards to the top.

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar Growing

Another Large Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar

We have lots of Caterpillars feeding on both the Spicebush and Sassafras plants.  I have yet to see any actual Spicebush Swallowtail Butterflies, but they’re coming from somewhere.

This is the most Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillars we’ve ever had.  I’ve always wanted to see a full size Spicebush Caterpillar up close, but we’ve never had them before.

Spicebush Swallowtail Eating Spicebush

Spicebush Swallowtail Eating

In addition to the Caterpillars that are the size in the pictures, we also have several really small Spicebush.  I had the wrong lens to take quality pictures of them, but I’ll try and get some later this week.

I got a few pictures, but I missed several and several others weren’t that good as I got over-excited.

The plants that seemed to be attracting the most Butterflies were the Lantana and Butterfly Bush.

The most prevalent Butterfly I saw today was the Eastern Black Swallowtail.  Interestingly, none of them were laying any eggs, they were just going after the nectar and chasing each other.

Eastern Black Swallowtail On Butterfly Bush

On top of all that, we’re having a crisis.  We are running out of Dutchman’s Pipevine (Aristolochia Fimbriata) and neither Joshua’s Native Plants nor Buchanan’s Native Plants has any in stock.  We have at least 15 huge Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars and although I’ve been thinking they will soon stop eating and form Chrysalises, I’m apparently mistaken.  I could have sworn they were going to stop eating yesterday, and yet today there they were, still munching away.  They were even eating the Dutchman’s Pipevine stems since there were so few leaves.

I’m going to start calling first thing in the morning and see if any other nurseries have this plant in stock.  For those of you in the Houston area reading this, if you know of a source, please share!

Well I’m not having one of those days, I’m having one of those weeks.  First, the Giant Swallowtail was getting nectar from the Milkweed, and now I “accidentally” find a cluster of Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillars feeding on my Sassafras plant.  What confused me even more is that I have two Spicebush plants, but I didn’t see any Caterpillars on those, although that is where I would expect to find them.

Another reason I realize I know so little is because I’ve never seen a Spicebush Swallowtail in my backyard, yet I guess it made a visit fairly recently.

Oh, one last reason I don’t know much.  I’ve never seen really small Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillars, so I’m just assuming that’s what these are since they do host on Sassafras.

Cluster of Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillars On Sassafras

There are a total of 5 videos, each one is less than 2 minutes long.  Watching these should give you a decent idea of how to start (or continue) a successful Butterfly Garden.

In this first video, I talk about how to buy Milkweed, what prices you should expect to pay (at least in Houston), how to tell if you have healthy Milkweed, and how to plant your Milkweed plants.

In this second video clip, I talk about the importance of having Nectar plants for your Butterfly Garden.  I also show a brief clip of my Butterfly Enclosures.

By the way, some good nectar plants I recommend are Penta, Salvia, Purple Coneflower, Lantana, Butterfly Bush, and the Cigar Bush.

In this third video clip, I talk about some other Host Plants for your Butterfly Garden including, Pipevine, Fennel, and Citrus Trees.

In the fourth video clip, I talk about some additional Host Plants for Butterflies including Spicebush and Passion Vine,  as well as what kinds of Butterflies you can expect to attract with the different Host Plants.

In this fifth and final video clip I talk about some additional Butterfly Gardening tools such as portable Butterfly Enclosures and long tweezers.

If you have any questions about these videos, where to buy plants or the additional Butterfly Gardening tools, just send me an email or leave a comment.

Hope you enjoy and it makes sense!

Before I post those I want to mention something regarding what LeAnn sent in one of her comments the other day.  She asked about Spicebush Butterflies hosting on Camphor.  Here’s my experience and what I know.  Spicebush Butterflies do host on Camphor and I’ve actually seen them on Camphor at the Houston Arboretum.  However, for whatever reason, I never had one Spicebush visit my Camphor tree that I grew from a small little sapling to a fairly large tree.  I’m not sure why that would be, but since I never had any luck with my Camphor I actually dug it up a couple of weeks ago.  Camphor is a fairly invasive plant so eventually I would have had a problem with it anyway.

So back to the Caterpillars.  I’m not sure how many we have, perhaps 5 or so.  I’m posting 3 different pictures, 2 of them are fairly mature and 1 is quite young.  Maybe it’s because I’ve never been fortunate enough to have these Butterflies (or Caterpillars) in my backyard before, but I still find these absolutely fascinating to look at.

This first picture shows one of the Caterpillars just resting.  It seems to hide all day, then come out and feed at night.

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar Hiding

This second picture shows the hiding place of a second Caterpillar.  He obviously loves his dead leaf as he always goes back there during the day.

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar On Dead Leaf

The final picture shows a young Spicebush Caterpillar.  He wasn’t hiding like the others today, he appeared to be eating.

Young Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar Eating

Well those Caterpillars are starting to grow, really grow.  These have to be the coolest looking Caterpillars of all the Butterflies (in my opinion).

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar On Leaf

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar Resting

Compare the above pictures with how these Caterpillars originally started out.  Quite a transformation huh?

Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar